Thread by @DrBryanLeyva

Now that #JBalvin is trending after his music video sparked backlash over its portrayal of Black women, allow me to use this moment to illustrate a few points about the mechanics of racism, whiteness/Blackness, and Latinidad across different contexts. 🧵

First, let’s get this out the way: #Latinos can be white, Black, Asian, or any other race imaginable because Latino is not a race but a cultural identifier. Most Latinos are mixed race, but being mixed doesn’t mean you can’t be racist or perpetuate anti-Blackness.

Latinos can be racist because white supremacy and anti Blackness are not exclusive to the U.S., but are global phenomena. Latinos, like J. Balvin, can be white and racist (whether it is intentional or not is beside the point).

In the U.S., Latinos are often considered “Brown” or “people of color” (aka “POC”). Brown is also used to refer to anyone who is neither white nor Black (e.g. Indians). POC simply refers to anybody who is not considered white (Black people included). Keyword here is “considered.”

In the U.S., Latinos are automatically labeled Brown or POC, but it’s important to remember that some Latinos ARE white, and have little to no Indigenous or African ancestry. Latinos can also be Black (e.g, Brazil has the second largest Black population outside of Nigeria).

This is why it is important to remember that racial classifiers, including terms like “Black,” “Brown” and “POC” are social constructs. That is, they take on whatever meaning we collectively agree to give to them, and their meaning can vary depending on the context and situation.

In Latin America, Latinos who are white are seen as such and benefit from white privilege (e.g., in 🇨🇴, 1/4 of the Black people make up 3/4 of the country’s poor). In the U.S, white Latinos are almost never considered white, though they benefit from whiteness in a myriad of ways.

Furthermore, most U.S Latinos are Mexican and identify as “mestizo” (referring to combined European and Indigenous ancestry). While mestizos are genetically mixed, many are phenotypically white and are perceived as such. You see this here in the U.S. with mixed people, too.

E.g. you can be genetically mixed and look white, but be considered Black. Take Plessy Ferguson. He was considered Black even though he was seven-eighths Caucasian and looked white. Nobody questioned Plessy’s Blackness, just like nobody questions Obama’s (think: 1 drop rule).

All this to say, whiteness and Blackness are contextual because race is a social construct. How a person self-identifies and how they’re perceived are two separate things. And a person’s ancestry doesn’t always correlate with how they will be perceived.

For instance, you can have mostly African ancestry and still be considered white if you look white. Moreover, how a person is perceived by people from within their own ethnic group versus by people from outside of that group can be different. I’ll use me to make this last point.

I have African ancestry, and I’m considered moreno/negro (brown/black) in most of Latin America. Here in the U.S., I’m not always perceived as such by white people or even by Black people. My Blackness is, therefore, contextual.

To bring it full circle:
You can be Latino, look white, and benefit from white privilege. J Balvin fits the bill. You can be Latino and perpetuate anti-Blackness, even if you don’t mean to (most white people don’t recognize when they are being racist).

J. Balvin’s portrayal of Black women in his music video was disgusting, and a prime example of how Latinos can contribute to an anti-Black narrative. In some ways, he doesn’t represent us. In other ways, he perfectly does. We have work to do.